Chhatra Dal brings out protest march boycotting JUCSU elections

Chhatra Dal has brought out a protest procession boycotting the Jahangirnagar University Central Students' Union (JUCSU) and Hall Parliament elections.

On Thursday (September 11), Chhatra Dal leaders and activists took out a protest march from the university's New Kala Bhaban area around 9 pm. The march passed through Senate Bhaban and Transport area and ended at Chowrangi.

At that time, Chhatra Dal leaders and activists chanted slogans like 'staged JUCSU, don't accept it', 'Zia's soldier, fight even if you are united', 'Boycott the JUCSU'.

After the march, Chhatra Dal leaders demanded the cancellation of the the elections and the formation of a new election commission for a participatory and impartial election.

Earlier in the day, casting of votes began at 9 am and continued until 5 pm. An hour before the voting ended, a Chhatra Dal-supported panel boycotted the elections. Chhatra Dal alleged that the ballots were provided by Jamaat, that polling agents were not allowed to enter the center on time, that candidates were not allowed to visit the center, that the votes were fake at Fazilatunnesa Hall, and that the VP candidate was harassed.

Earlier, after 12 noon, a brawl broke out at Fazilatunnesa Hall over the entry of the Chhatra Dal VP candidate. Voting was suspended for an hour. There were allegations of security concerns over the entry of male candidates into the center for female students. And Chhatra Dal says that they went to lodge a complaint after receiving news that Shibir had entered the center first.

For the same reason, the Tajuddin Hall polling center became chaotic. The students kept raising false slogans. Despite this, the voting was suspended for a while. Tension was visible even though Jahanara Imam Hall.

The official vote counting began after 6 pm. Since the counting was done manually, the results may have to wait until Friday (September 12) noon.

Meanwhile, Chhatra Dal central vice-president Hafizur Rahman Sohan has been detained on charges of being illegally present on campus during the election.

There are a total of 11,747 voters in the JUCSU election. A total of 178 candidates have been finally approved to contest for various positions. Of these, 9 are contesting for the post of Vice-President (VP), 9 for the post of General Secretary (GS), 6 for the post of Joint General Secretary (female) and 10 for the post of Joint General Secretary (male).

Voting was held in 224 booths in 21 halls of the university. Out of these, 10 are female halls and 11 are male halls. Each center has one returning officer, 67 polling officers and 67 assistant polling officers.

Voters voted (checked) on a total of 40 ballots, including the central and hall parliaments.

No female student has contested for the post of VP. Two of the 15 candidates for the GS post are women. There are no female candidates for the other four posts.

All the halls of parliament together make up 24.4 percent of the total candidates. And there are no candidates for the 15 posts in the five women's halls. A total of eight panels, supported by the Left, Shibir, Chhatra Dal and independents, participated in the election.